During the process of selective breeding for scallops, it has been found that very few individuals (<0.1%) in wild scallop populations have orange-red adductor muscles other than normal while adductor muscles. However, the mutation of the adductor muscle color hasn't been reported before. By analyzing ingredients and further determination of molecular structure identity, two carotenoid ingredients, the pectenolone and pectenoxanthin are found to attribute to the orange-red color of the adductor muscle in the scallop. As essential amino acids, carotenoids have multiple biological functions, but they can't be synthesized by the human body and must be acquired from diet. So abundant carotenoids in the adductor muscle can significantly improve the nutritious value of the scallop, at the same time, the orange-red color can make the appearance of dishes more attractive.
During the breeding process, the scallops with orange-red adductor muscles were found to have faster growing rates and higher survival rates comparing to the ordinary scallops with white adductor muscles. The stress tolerant scallops with orange-red adductor muscles are genetically stable and can be largely applied to the commercial cultivation.
Up to date, the main methods to breeding new marine or land agricultural species is through hybridization or selective breeding according to different purposes. These methods depend on the genetic variation property of organisms. No method has been reported to use scallops with orange-red adductor muscles to selectively breed a new scallop population with high growing rate, survival rate and stress tolerance.